Mercator advances major MENA intelligent cargo ecosystem deals

Mercator, the global travel and transportation industry solutions provider, says it anticipates two major signings within the Middle East and North Africa this year for its newly-launched Intelligent Cargo Ecosystem, the industry's first open API platform for air cargo management and ground handling.

Speaking on the side-lines of the IATA World Cargo Symposium in Abu Dhabi, Peter Boylan, Mercator’s Vice President Strategic Sales, said while he could not disclose the potential customers because of NDA agreements, “discussions are now at advanced stages with customers who are important cargo carriers in this space.”

Boylan said half of Mercator’s eight key strategic customers are within the Middle East and Africa where it has numerous customers, including flydubai but excluding Qatar Airways which has its own proprietary competing platform. “Other existing customers are also expected to migrate to the new platform,” added Boylan.

The ecosystem is the next step in the evolution of Mercator’s air cargo product portfolio and encompasses a number of world leading air cargo management applications for offer & order management, logistics, warehousing, regulatory compliance, quality management, revenue management and analytics.

Mercator claims that its new open architecture platform enables air cargo carriers to break away from the constraints of legacy systems by allowing handlers and operators to make process changes within the system quickly and with unrivalled flexibility. The eco-system’s app-based approach, is said to enable carriers and ground handlers to improve operational efficiency and introduce new services.

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